Question Uninstall graphics drivers first or remove graphics card first?

[bononos]

Its been a while and I need to ask this noob question - Uninstall graphics drivers first or remove graphics card first on a windows 10 pc if I need to remove the graphics card?

And is it different if its AMD/Nvidia?

 

[UsandThem]

Uninstall the drivers/software first, and shut down the PC and take the card out.

It's the same for both companies.

 

[Zoozuu]

try display driver uninstaller. DDU
also dont let windows install a driver. make sure to have the internet unplugged. download the most recent driver from the hardwares website.

 

[bononos]

try display driver uninstaller. DDU
also dont let windows install a driver. make sure to have the internet unplugged. download the most recent driver from the hardwares website.

Is the uninstaller still so crap that DDU is needed?

 

[Zoozuu]

I'm not sure. I would say if you have problems with the regular uninstaller try ddu. most of the time I format my system before doing new drivers. I haven't used either way to uninstall in a while as they both have gone weird for me in the past.

 

[Thunder 57]

Is the uninstaller still so crap that DDU is needed?

Probably still worth it if switching between AMD/NVIDA. Otherwise not really.

 

[Spjut]

IME, uninstalling drivers isn't necessary anymore, whether you're using DDU or the normal uninstaller. I've changed between various Legacy DX9/10/11 and modern GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia on the same Win10 PCs, and I've never encountered a driver issue when changing graphics cards.
Windows 10 simply doesn't find compatible hardware from the get go, then fetches a proper driver itself from Windows Update, though it's often an older driver, and voila, it's working.

I don't remember any issues changing drivers on Windows 7 either. The only thing I remember could be problematic was changing motherboards, which has also worked without issues in Win10.